FG repurposes Primary Healthcare Centres for COVID-19

Moses Emorinken, Abuja

The Federal Government is set to begin the repurposing of some Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) to manage COVID-19 patients across the country, especially in Lagos, Kano, and Abuja.

The establishment of Community Support Centres (CSCs) in States will ease the burden on existing isolation and treatment centres, which are currently being overwhelmed by the increase in the daily number of infection.

This is coming after the National Council on Health (NCH) adopted the ‘Health Sector COVID-19 Pandemic Response Plan’ and the ‘Reducing Transmission of COVID-19 Through Community Approach’, by the Ministry of Health and the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), respectively, on Tuesday in Abuja.

The CSCs, which will also serve to reduce the increasing community transmission, especially at the grassroots level, will be driven by States government in close collaboration with the NPHCDA.

The Director of Information, Media and Public Relations of the Federal Ministry of Health, Olujimi Oyetomi, who made this known in a statement, said the NCH adopted the CSCs as additional options and not parallel centres.

According to the statement, “The Emergency National Council on Health (NCH) deliberated on and adopted the other memorandum: ‘The Health Sector COVID-19 Pandemic Response Plan’ presented by the Honourable Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, as well as the presentation: ‘Reducing Transmission of COVID-19 Through Community Approach’ presented by the Executive Director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Faisal Shuaib.

“The Council requested for the first memo which is the ‘Revised Guidelines for the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund’ presented by the Honourable Minister of Health to be stepped down to allow for additional explanations, consultations and all issues around it to be resolved.

“The presentation by the NPHCDA was adopted with the understanding that the COVID-19 Community Support Centres (CSCs) should not be established as parallel centres but as additional options to relieve the burden of service delivery on existing facilities.

“Also, it was agreed that States are to own and lead the implementation of the COVID-19 Community Support Centres (CSCs) where desirable.

“The Council noted the development of the Health Sector COVID-19 Pandemic Response Action Plan and the proposed establishment of Community Support Centres (CSCs), in the first instance, in high burden States of Lagos, Kano, and FCT towards reducing community transmission of COVID-19.

“The Council also noted the progress of work and support by all stakeholders and challenges encountered in the containment of the COVID-19 pandemic across the States of the federation, while it agreed that Federal Ministry of Health will share a template on Needs Assessment and Daily Reporting Format on Case Management to facilitate decision making for federal government support to States.”